EASTERN CRETE

Even very small
settlements were
built in the form of
miniature royal
palaces
settlement of Ayios Georgios which, in its
form and structure, is more like a miniature
Gournia than a simple country house. The
entrance is marked by a steep staircase
formed of monolithic blocks which leads to
a myriad of small chambers with the massive
walls of a fortress. From the foot of the hill
the green countryside stretches out
immersed in absolute silence, and it is easy
to believe that the ancients who inhabited
this place loved to surround themselves
with beauty.
More imposing in appearance is
Pressos (Praisos), a Late Minoan city which
was active up until the Roman period, with
a triple acropolis built on a cone-shaped hill
entirely surrounded by fortified walls: from
afar the hill seems built up in a spiral, like
old representations of the tower of Babel.
Pressos lies exactly halfway between the two
coasts and was of strategic importance,
allowing control over the traffic of people
and goods across a vast territory. In the
Greek era it was the most powerful city-state
of eastern Crete, together with Itanos
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